Year: 1991

Title of the play: Noël and Gertie

Author: Devised by Sheridan Morley; Words and Music: Noël Coward (with Jason Carr)

Director: Sean Mathias

Others in the Cast: Susan Hampshire

Company/Event:

Theatre and location: Duke of York’s Theatre, London

Other productions of the same play: 

Plot summary: In their day, Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence were theater royalty. He was a talented actor, playwright and composer who penned such classics as Private Lives and Blithe Spirit. She was a celebrated actress who triumphed on stage in pieces that included Lady in the Dark and The King and I. Together, they formed a remarkable team. Their friendship has become part of show business history and the inspiration for Noel and Gertie. "Noel and Gertie" is an unusual hybrid, part biography but mostly revue, that purports to tell the story of the warm lifelong relationship between Noel Coward, erudite playwright, composer and actor, and Gertrude Lawrence, one of the last century's leading ladies of the stage. Devised by Sheridan Morley, the show consists almost entirely of songs and scenes from Coward's work, and we don't really meet the subjects directly. We see them only through performances Coward wrote for them from the 1920s until Lawrence's death in 1952. – Summary extracted from Washington Post, Dec 4, 2003, and Tracy’s Lyon’s article in Broadway Talk.

Peth’s role: Noël

Reviews:

I saw a wonderful production at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth in 1970 starring Edward Petherbridge as Noel and Susan Hampshire as Gertie - they captured the great legends to a T. Richard Connema in Talking Broadway


Blog review:
A foray out of the West End and into Bromley South.  The geritol-crowd was in proportionally much larger numbers here. But then, the play was a nostalgia piece.  Sheridan Morley strung together all the jewels of Coward, and Susan Hampshire and Edward Petherbridge presented them. Petherbridge as Coward is like hand-in-glove.  It was kind of silly with the two of them bursting into song and dance every ten minutes, but it had all the charm of a period piece lovingly done, and I found out I know a lot more Noel Coward than I thought I did.  Fun fluff. - rec.arts.theatre

Production details
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Related links:

Gallery: 

Pic here

and here
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